Graham Ovenden remained unapologetic and defiant before his sentencing, continuing to insist that he was innocent and his art misunderstood.

The Guardian spoke to 70-year-old Ovenden the day before he was sentenced as he stayed with a friend at a remote spot on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

On Tuesday Ovenden was given a prison sentence of 12 months, suspended for two years.

On Monday he had said he was not looking forward to the prospect of prison, compared his position to that of Oscar Wilde and argued there was little difference in the world of art between fame and infamy.

Since his conviction Ovenden has been lodging with his sister in Winchester – and continuing to paint – but over the past few days has been staying with a friend on Bodmin Moor, not far from Barley Splatt, his estate and mock gothic mansion where he has lived and worked since the 1970s.

Ovenden continued to claim he was a victim of an establishment that did not understand that through his art he wanted to celebrate the innocence of children rather than corrupt the youngsters who modelled for him.

He argued that the authorities had pursued him since a project in the early 80s, when he produced hoax images purporting to be of Victorian street children. He was not convicted over the project. "I thought it was a rather good number," he said. "But that's when my name first came to the police."

Ovenden continued to deny that he had abused any of his young models or that his work was indecent. "It makes one wonder what's going on in this country that people can think that. It's quite embarrassing.

"This hasn't embittered me. My reputation is impugned but in the art world fame and infamy are the same thing – look at Oscar Wilde. One of my paintings sold well at auction three weeks ago. It hasn't buggered up my market at all. But I don't wish to go to prison. I'm innocent at every level.

"If Christ was to walk this Earth again and utter those quite wonderful words, 'Suffer little children to come unto me', he would probably be arrested as a paedophile and crucified."